Oriental Pied Hornbills are getting common in urban Singapore

Of late there have been regular sightings of the Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) in Singapore’s urban areas. These are signs that these hornbills are becoming common, thanks to the success of nesting boxes placed in selected locations.

On 27th July 2015, Dr Jean Ho sighted a male moving about in a tree looking for something (video above, image below-left). There was a small bird chirping and she thought “maybe it was wondering where its lunch was hiding?”

On 16th September, Yap Kim Fatt spotted a pair flying and hopping from tree to tree at Commonwealth Close (above-right). It was a hazy afternoon and the sky was dark and dull. “It was my first sighting here,” wrote Kim Fatt. “The photo was taken with my Samsung WB150F, idiot-proof camera.”

And on 23rd October, Estela Acierto photographed a pair checking a bunch of bananas in a garden along Dunearn Road. Disappointed that the bananas were still green, the hornbills flew off to the compost lot and one of them pecked into a dried Luffa fruit (Luffa aegyptica) (above). Not sure whether it was after the ripened seed.